A Devotional Thought from Matthew 3:1–12
1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4 And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Matthew 3:1–12
My vote for best commercial of all time has to go to McDonalds.
It was a commercial for the 1993 Super bowl. The commercial starred two of the greatest basketball players of all time. My personal favorite player ever, the great Larry Bird and the greatest player to ever dribble a ball Michael Jordan. (Sorry Lebron, it ain’t even close!)
The commercial went like this, Jordan walks in with his McDonald’s Big Mac meal and Larry says, “I’ll play you for it… first one to miss watches the other one eat it”. The two begin to shoot trick shots for the other to follow, behind the backboard, from the knees to the stands hitting every one. Eventually they are calling the most ridiculous shots, from the cheap seats Larry says “off the floor, off the scoreboard, off the bank board, no rim” and he hits it. Jordan follows “off the second rafter, off the floor, nothing but net” and swoosh. The contest keeps going and going further and further away as that Big Mac I suppose, kept getting colder and colder. The commercial ended with them above a skyscraper and the sound of another made shot. This commercial had it all, my favorite sport, my favorite players and a funny premise as ridiculous as it was. It was of course, just camera tricks. To call those kinds of shots and make them could never happen.
What does a hamburger commercial about basketball have to do with the Lord and his Word?
When Jesus went to John the Baptist that day to be Baptized do you realize he was calling his shot? We learn from Paul in Romans 6 that Baptism is a picture of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and that we are “planted…in the likeness of his death” and we are raised from the water in the “likeness of his resurrection” (Rom 6:5). So, Jesus in the beginning of his earthly public ministry was calling his shot. He was saying without words, “I will die like this pictures and be buried like this pictures and then conquer the grave like this”. He called his shot and then three and a half years later he did it! Jesus rose just like his baptism pictured!
No camera tricks needed.